Letter to Mrs. Bixby Lyrics
Executive Mansion
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864
To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass
Dear Madam
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom
Yours very sincerely and respectfully
A. Lincoln
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864
To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass
Dear Madam
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom
Yours very sincerely and respectfully
A. Lincoln
About
Genius Annotation
The letter is included in R.J. Cook’s “One Hundred and One Famous Poems” as a “model of purest English, rarely, if ever, surpassed.”
Perhaps its authorship is questioned, but I find it worthy of being included in Cook’s book.
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